Red River Blue

Chapter 28

Aside from a small list of essential items, there wasn't much of a plan. Once they got inside the store, people scattered about pushing carts and gathering their personal items before going for the food and bottled water that was needed back at the prison. Merle took a deep breath. In through the mouth and out through the nose. He never thought he would see the day that he would miss the sadistic bastard otherwise known as Phillip Blake, but today was that day. Runs with the governor had been fast and organized. They would have cleared everything useful inside this store out in under a few hours and taken it all back to Woodbury.

The problem with the prison group is Rick had stepped down, yet no one had stepped up to take his place. It was like they were in a weird sort of limbo, waiting to see if Rick was really done being the leader or if he was just taking a break. Hershel was leading a small group that was at least trying to keep things organized around the prison. But all they did was talk. Not enough crops were being planted and not enough supplies were being collected. Winter would be on them before any of them knew it, and if they didn't get their act together soon everyone was going to spend it freezing and starving in their cells.

Merle grabbed a cart and followed after Harley, determined to keep an eye on the girl despite her protests about not needing a babysitter. She was loading crates of bottled water into the bottom of the cart she was pushing. When she stopped in front of a shelf full of feminine hygiene products he quickly lost interest in watching her and headed down the next aisle over. The people camping outside the store must have bit the big one pretty early on, because most of the shelves were still completely untouched. Merle pulled a box of canned vegetables off one shelf, balancing it rather awkwardly on his metal sleeve before thumping it down into his cart.

The deal River had originally made with Rick for half of whatever they got no longer stood, but Merle was thinking about stashing some shit away in her camper anyway. If things went bad at the prison this coming winter, he had every intention of getting his family the hell out of that shithole before people started eating each other. He hoped things wouldn't get to that point but preparing for the worst never hurt anyone. Right not it was simple math. Too many people and not enough resources.

Once his cart was loaded with as many canned items as it could fit, Merle pushed it down the aisle, just intending to get a quick look around the place before he took the items out and loaded them up in one of the cars. One quick turn of the cart and suddenly he was face to face with a wall of liquor. Whiskey, rum, tequila, gin, bourbon, scotch, even fancy flavored vodka, this place had it all. From top shelf expensive brand name down to the cheap crap that hobos favored.

He had kept it straight and narrow since he got River back. It had been easier than any other time that he had tried to stay sober before, mainly because there was little to no temptation at the prison. Days and sometimes even weeks had gone by when he didn't even think about drinking or using. Hershel didn't outlaw alcohol outright, but the man strongly discouraged drinking of any sort. Because of that, people drank on the quiet, up in the guard towers or in their rooms. Merle didn't have to see it.

Standing in front of his old friend Jack Daniels, Merle was feeling the need for a drink like he hadn't felt it in a long time. No one was watching him. They were all too busy smacking at cardboard cutouts with swords and playing with polaroid cameras. He could pick up the bottle and twist off the top, chug a few swallows down right here and now. Feel that burn slide down his throat and start a low fire down deep inside his belly. Make all his troubles and worries disappear like he never had a care in the world.

Licking at his lips, Merle swallowed hard suddenly noticing how dry his mouth was. He glanced up and down the aisle, making sure tattle tails number one and two, otherwise known as Harley and Daryl, were no where around. Then he grabbed for the bottle. Pinning it to his side with the elbow of his bad arm, he fumbled with the seal, trying to get the lid off.

Merle had the cap off and the wonderful liquid gold gurgling into his mouth by the time he realized what he was doing. Ruining everything is what he was fucking doing. He had promised River. He had promised the girls. But more than that he had promised himself that this would never ever happen again. And he hadn't made that promise for no reason.

The sobering thought of what might happen to River and his girls if walkers or hostile stangers came and he was to drunk to defend them brought Merle's short lived drinking party to a very abrupt hault. A few swallows had already gone down, but he spit the rest out onto the floor. He stared at the bottle in his hand, feeling the anger well up inside him. He was angry at himself. More pissed than he had ever been at anyone else before. He was angry about all the times he had gotten drunk and fucked things up, but mostly he was angry at himself for being weak. Plain and simple. For not having the self control to stop this years ago.

Liquor splashed his pants as the whiskey bottle shattered on the floor at his feet. But that wasn't enough. Merle brought his arm up above his head. The arm that had the metal sleeve over it. He lifted it into the air and slammed it down as hard as possible onto the shelf in front of him, sending dozens more bottles shattering down to the floor. The smell of alcohol burned his nose, filling the air around him. He cringed at the fumes, the thought that River was not going to be pleased with him when he came back reeking like alcohol briefly crossed his mind. But then a smell even more unpleasant filled his nostrils. The smell of death.

The place had been cleared of the dead. He and Daryl made sure of it before they brought more people here. But suddenly the walkers were all around them. People were screaming and gunshots started echoing off the walls. It took Merle a few moments before he realized part of the roof had given in and the goddamn dead bastards were falling right out of the ceiling. Raining down on them.

Not wanting to lose the food he had collected, Merle quickly turned and started pushing his cart towards the exit. He only made it a few steps before the shelf he had smashed fell the rest of the way in and came crashing down on top of him. The cart went sliding and squeaking down the aisle and he was brought down onto the ground, smashed under the heavy weight of the metal shelving unit.

Merle swore. He twisted and turned but he was stuck like a rabbit in a snare. With a grunt, he tried pushing up on the shelf but the angle was all wrong. He was slipping and sliding in the puddle of liquor under him, the skin on his back burning where he was was being cut by dozens of shards of glass.

"DARYL!" Merle screamed for the only person he thought might come to his aid. There was a half rotted walker shuffling down the aisle towards him and from his uncomfortable position it was going to be hard for him to kill it before it got to him. "Daryl!," he screamed again, "I need some fuckin' help over here!"

A boot splashed into the puddle next to his face, sending burning droplets of liquor into his eyes. His vision was hazy for a moment as he tried to blink and wipe the liquid away. It was not his little brother that had come to his rescue, it was Harley. One foot planted on either side of him, she leaned down and gripped the heavy shelf with her hands.

The leather riding gloves helped. Wearing them was a trick Harley had picked up from Michonne. But the corners of the shelf were still sharp. She ignored the pain, grunting as she used the strength of her legs to try and push the shelf up high enough for her father to slide out. Being a girl was frustrating. She was strong and she worked out to make herself stronger, but the shelf was still to heavy for her to lift alone. People were running in panic, screaming and heading for the cars instead of staying and fighting the walkers.

"Just go!," Merle hollered at her, "get out now."

"Shut the fuckin' hell up!," Harley screamed back at him with what little breath she had left. She adjusted her grip on the shelf, trying to pull it up from the top this time instead of lifting from the bottom. Her arms were shaking and her legs were burning, but suddenly the shelf got a whole lot lighter. The leather of a coat sleeve brushed her arm and she turned her head, expecting to see her uncle next to her. But it wasn't Daryl that had come to her rescue. Zach was next to her, his face red and his knuckles white as he yanked the shelf upwards of her father. Harley was so shocked she almost lost her grip.

"I'm loose!," Merle hollered. He was scared once he got up that his leg might not hold his weight, but he was free. Daryl had finally gotten around the pack of walkers he had been fighting off. Harley and Zach waited until he had pulled Merle all the way out from under the shelf before they dropped it. Daryl and Harley hauled Merle up to his feet.

"Can you walk?," Daryl asked, not waiting before an answer before he tucked his shoulder under his brother's arm to take some of the weight off his hurt leg. Harley shouldered in on the other side, trying her best to keep his metal sleeve from smashing her ear into her head.

Zach had his gun out, aiming it at the walker that was stumbling down the aisle towards them. It wasn't coming at them very fast since it was slipping and sliding on the wet floor under it's feet. Zach wasn't the best shot, but he knew he could get it if he took careful aim. He leveled his gun, aiming at the walker's head. Zach was so focused on the walker coming at him, he didn't notice the one above him that was hanging from the ceiling by it's intestines.

"Look out!" Harley yelled, "above you!"

She tried to warn him but it was too late. With a disgusting rip and a smatter of blood the walker tore loose and came flopping down from the ceiling, knocking Zach to the ground. It landed face down on top of him and wasted no time sinking it's rotting teeth into the soft flesh of his neck. Harley could hear someone screaming. It wasn't until Merle pulled her to his chest to muffle the sound that she realized it was her.

"Too late for him now," Daryl told her, "we got to go."

Harley sucked in a ragged breath, forcing her body and her emotions to come back under her control. Zach was still screaming on the floor near their feet as another walker joined the first one, tearing at his flesh with it's hands. Harley pulled out her gun and aimed it at the boy, popping off one shot into his brain to end his suffering. He wasn't her favorite person, but he still deserved better than to be eaten alive.

Daryl was dragging Merle down the aisle. One of his legs looked like it might be broken and there was a large shard of glass sticking out of his back. Ahead of them was the cart of canned food that had rolled away when the shelf fell. Harley wanted to help her dad, but she didn't want to leave the food behind. It seemed wasteful for people to have died on this run and for them to have nothing to even show for it.

"Get on the cart," she hollered. When both men looked at her like she was crazy she yelled, "ride it like Wren used to." When she was little, Wren got endless amusement from climbing onto the front of the cart facing backwards and having Harley or their mother push her around the grocery store. She had only stopped about a year ago, when she got so big she started tippping the carts over.

Seeing no other better option, Merle let go of Daryl and climbed onto the cart, leaning forward and gripping it with his one good hand to keep from falling off. The cart dipped a little under his weight but the heavy canned items it was filled with kept it from tipping over on top of him. Daryl rushed ahead, clearing out any walkers that were in their way. Harley grabbed the handle of the cart and pushed, her boots sliding on the wet floor a little before she got traction. Turning the corner took some effort but once she cleared it she saw the exit straight ahead.